Power Surge

At one of my parks a resident that owns his own trailer was complaining about the lights dimming in his trailer. We suggested that he call the electric company. They came out and said that the breaker on the pedestal was bad and needed replacing. To me it made no sense what so ever but I am not an electrician.

We finally did replace the breaker and now the resident says that his router, computer mother board, printer etc are all burned out and is starting to deduct lot rent for these items. I am tempted to send his letter and partial payment back to him saying no thanks. The trailer is not a especially attractive one and is at the front entrance of the park at the mail boxes. I mean how do I know that he actually owned any of these items? He sent a letter from a computer printer. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Bruce

Send him a notice to pay or quit, and call your insurance company and let them know you might have a claim due to a faulty electric breaker and a tenant is trying to hole you responsible. There is no way he can just deduct moneys from what he owes for his lot rent without an agreement between the two of you. his beef with you is separate from the space rent he owes you…

Bruce -

You make your own problems in this world. Or not.

We don’t receive such letters from tenants. That sort of thing is for our managers to handle. The rent must be paid. Period. It is illegal for a resident to deduct rent for damages (however they can sue you for the damages AFTER they’ve paid the rent in full). But residents rarely do, and even if this one did, I don’t think the damage is your problem or fault. The tenant should have had a surge protector and homeowner’s insurance.

My advice is:

  1. have your manager tell the tenant that they should look to their renters insurance to cover any damage to their possessions, and

  2. have your manager evict this, and all residents, as fast as the law allows with as large of a late payment as the law allows, for any non-payment of rent.

Good luck,

-jl-

I sent everything back to the tenant via certified mail including his partial payment and a 3 day pay or quit notice. The tenant overnighted the correct amount of rent plus late fees. Thanks again to all.

Congratulations, and thank you for following up to share your experience!

-jl-